Method of defeathering poultry



1964 R. s. ZEBARTH ETAL 3,159,870

METHOD OF DEFEATHERING POULTRY Filed April 1. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTORS.

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METHOD OF DEFEATHERING POULTRY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 1. 1960 Z7"5. 5 4? /g ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,159,370 METHGD F DEFEATHERENGPGULTRY Ralph S. Zeharth, Kansas City, Richard L. Lewis, Independenee,and John E. Franta, Kansas City, Mo assignors to Gordon Johnson Company,Kansas Qity, Man,

a corporation of Missouri Filed Apr. l, 1960, Ser. No. 19,344

3 Claims. (Cl. 117- 55) This invention relates to poultry processing andmore particularly to feather removal, the primary object being toprovide a method that is capable of eifectively and quickly removing allof the feathers of the bird without skin or meat damage and without needfor additional picking in successive machines requiring extended space 7requirements.

It is the most important object of the present invention to provide anovel defeathering method permitting use of a poultry picker having amultiplicity of reels so arranged that feather-removing action isimparted to substantially the entire bird throughout the time it isadvanced through the machine whereby, upon making two passestherethrough, once hanging by its legs and once by its neck, the bird isstripped clean of all feathers without barking or other damage to thecarcass.

Still another very important object of the present invention is toprovide a method utilizing a poultry picker wherein the cooperativeaction between the reels is such that the hard to remove feathers,especially the wing feathers, and those disposed between the wings andthe body of the bird are plucked therefrom in a snap-action mannerbecause of a crossaction wherein the flexible picking fingers tend tomove the wings and, therefore, their feathers'in opposite directions.

Another important object of the instant invention is to provide a novelmethod such that the bird moves through a serpentine path of travel witha consequent oscillation and a resultant picking of all of the feathersthroughout the length and circumference of the body of the carcass, aswell as throughout all appendages including the wings, the necks, thehooks and the legs.

Still another important object of the present invention is to provide amethod utilizing a poultry picker having the reels thereof arranged topermit driving at maximum peripheral speeds by virtue of the fact thatthe reels are disposed in a substantially V-shaped configurationconforming essentially to the shape of the bird advanced through themachine and between the reels.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a multiplereel poultry pickermade pursuant to my present invention, parts being broken away forclearness. 7

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view thereof, parts being broken away forclearness.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical, crosssectional viewthrough the reels of the picker and illustrating the action thereon upona bird suspended between the reels; and I FIG. 4 is a fragmentary,cross-sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3. i

A pair of elongated, upper reels it and 12 may be sub stantiallyidentical, and in the same manner, apair of lower reels l4, and 16 maybe of the same naturebut differing in some respects as will hereinafterbe made clear, from the corresponding reels it and 12 respectively.

structurally, the elements for supporting the flexible fingers(hereinafter described), are the same ineach of the four reels,including a longitudinal-shaft 18 made up of a tube 20 having stubs 22and 24 plugged in the ends spaced circumferentially and uniformly aroundthe discs Each bar 36 is provided with a number of equally spaced,polygonal openings 38 throughout its length for receiving theaforementioned picking fingers. The way in which the fingers areretained in the openings 38 may be similar to the construction morefully disclosed in U.S. Letters Patent No. 2,694,829; therefore, thedisclosure of such patent is incorporated herein and to which referencemay be had for a better understanding of the instant invention.

'More specifically, the reels of the instant invention are in manyrespects similar to those of my US. Letters Patent No. 2,859,471, andsuch patent is likewise incorporated herein by reference for a betterunderstanding of the instant disclosure.

As in said Patent No. 2,859,471, the reels are supported at the endsthereof by extensible framework broadly designated by the numeral ill,whereby the distances between the reels may be adjusted, and suchframework 40 is in turn carried by standards 42 for vertical movement,whereby the height of the machine may be varied and the angularity ofthe normally horizontal shafts 13 may be adjusted. For example, FIG. 1illustrates a slight incline in the machine, and under certainconditions, such variance from the horizontal may produce beneficialresults.

It is to be understood that the poultry to be de-feathered their shafts18 are closer together than are the shafts 18 "of the reels it and 12.However, the shafts 18 of reels l0 and 12 are equally spaced from acentral vertical plane extending longitudinally through the machine, andin the same manner, the distance between such plane and each of the,shafts 18 for the reels l4 and 16, is the same.

Such V-shaped'arrangement of the four reels is maintained throughout alladjustments, both horizontally and vertically. In otherwords, when thetwo'reels 12 and lid are moved horizontally towardand away from. ,tl1ereels 10 and 14, and/or when the reels 10 and 14 are so shifted, thefour shafts 18 preferably remain in substan tial parallelism. By thesame token, such parallelism among the four shafts 13 is notchanged whenvertical adjustment is made, shifting either or both of the frames it?with respect to the standards or legs 42.

FIG. 3 of the drawings illustrates by arrows also, the

directions of rotation of the reels, reels 1d and 14 rotat- 1 ingclockwise, and reels l2 and 16 rotating anticlockwise.

Consequently, reels it) and 12 rotate oppositely and reel 14 rotates ina direction opposite to the direction ofrotal tion of reel 16. Reels 14and 16 rotate at the same speeds andin the same manner, the speeds ofrotation of the reels Jill and 12 are the same. However, the speeds ofthefreels 14 and 16 arediflerentfrom the speeds ,of the reels 1t) and 12so that the peripheral speeds of all of the 3 reels arethe same. J j jAs above indicated, each of the four reels is provided with a multitudeof radially extending, elongated, flexible fingers carried by the bars36 within the openings 33. Such fingers, made from rubber or otherflexible material, may be transversely semicircular, and roughened orribbed along their fiat faces in much the same manner as disclosed in myPatent No. 2,859,471 aforementioned. While the diameters and thicknessesof all of the fingers may be the same, they vary in length.

In FIG. 4 of the drawings, showing reels 14 and 16, reel 14 is shownprovided with a number of circular rows 48 of relatively long fingers50, and a number of circular rows 52 of shorter fingers 54.

Referring to FIG. 3, it is seen that there are six fingers 50 in each ofthe rows 48 and a like number of fingers 54 is provided in each row 52.FIG. 4 illustrates also the way in which the fingers of each bar 36 areoffset relative to the fingers of each bar 36 next adjacent thereto.Considering but one of the bars 36, the long fingers 50 alternate withthe short fingers 54 in the longitudinal row of fingers along the bar36.

Reel 16 is made in the same manner, presenting a plurality of circularrows 56 of relatively long fingers 58 and a plurality of rows 60 ofshorter fingers 62. Fingers 58 are equal in length to the fingers 50,and the fingers 54 and 62 are identical in length.

By virtue of such construction, it is seen in FIG. 4 that each shortfinger 62 overlaps a corresponding long finger 50 closely adjacentthereto. By the same token, and alternately, each short finger 54overlaps and is proximal to a corresponding long finger 58.

The form of the reels and 12 is the same as illustrated in FIG. 4 withrespect to reels 14 and 16, the relatively long fingers of the reels 10and 12 being designated by the numerals 64 and 65 respectively, and theshorter fingers of the reels 1t) and 12 being designated by the numerals68 and '76 respectively. However, the fingers 64 and 66, which are ofthe same length, are longer than the fingers and 58. And, the identicalfingers 68 and 70 are longer than the fingers 54 and 62. In fact, in theconstruction chosen for illustration, the fingers 68 and 70 are slightlylonger than the fingers 50 and 58.

It is to be pointed outhowever, that the extent of overlapping of thefingers of the reels 1t] and 12 is the same as in reels 14 and 16,notwithstanding the fact that there are four different lengths in thefingers 54-62, 50-52;, 68-79, and 64-66 because of the fact that thereels 10 and 12 are farther apart than the reels 14 and 16 with aspacing chosen to effect such identity of overlapping. By the sametoken, the spacing between reels 10 and 14 and the spacing between thereels 12 and 16 is such as to provide the same extent of overlapping ofthe fingers top to bottom.

In other words, the relationship of the fingers of the upper reels tothe fingers of the lower reels is the same as depicted in FIG. 4 of thedrawings. The short fingers 70 of reel 12 overlap closely the longerfingers 58 of the reel 16, and the short fingers 62 of the reel 16overlap and are closely arranged with respect to corresponding longfingers 66 in the reel 12. This same relationship between the longfingers and the short fingers is provided for between the reels 10 and14.

From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that the novel method of theinstant invention contemplates a slapping action imparted to the body ofthe bird 44 by the flexible fingers of the upper reels 19 and 12, and asimilar but separate slapping action, imparted to appendages of suchbody, as for example, the neck of the bird 44 through the action of thefingers of the lower reels 14 and 16.

These two actions are carried out without interruption throughout thetime the bird 44 is advanced through the machine between the two sets ofreels. The overhead conveyor fromwhich the birds 44 are suspended by theV shackles 46, holds the birds against descent as'all of the fingerstend to impart a downwardly and inwardly slapping force upon the bodiesand the necks of the birds.

It is to be noted that the act-ion of the reels 10 and 12 upon the bodyof bird 44, is opposite and that opposed forces are similarly impartedupon the neck of bird 44 by the fingers of the lower reels 14 and 16.Conversely, when the bird 44 is suspended from shackle 46 by its neck ina successive machine of identical nature, the fingers of the upper reels10 and 12 act upon the birds body to remove feathers not pulledtherefrom in the first pass through the first machine. At the same time,the lower fingers act upon the legs and the hooks to remove featherstherefrom in the same manner as FIG. 3 of the drawing illustrates thefeather removing of the lower reels on the birds neck.

An important step in the method has to do with the way in which thefeathers are removed from the Wings of the birds 44 simultaneously withthe actions just above described, but through different and separateforces applied thereto. Since the reels 10 and 14 rotate in the samedirection, their fingers travel opopsitely at points of crossing and, asa consequence, the fingers 64 and 68 of the reel 10, acting downwardlyand outwardly on wing 44a, tend to pull or deflect the wing 44a, as wellas its feathers, in an outwardly and downwardly direction. 0n the otherhand, the fingers 50 and 54 of the reel 14 tend to deflect the wing 44aand its feathers, upwardly and inwardly. These opposite slapping andpulling forces on the feathers of the wing 44a, pluck the fingers in asnap-action manner more effectively than methods heretofore employed.The cross-action effect upon the feathers of the wing 44a is such as todeflect the feathers in a direction opposite to the normal lay thereof.In other words, for the most part, the wing feathers all tend to grow orlie outwardly and, therefore, as the fingers of the reel 10 tend to pullthe feathers in a direction coincident with the direction in which theWing feathers are normally disposed, the fingers in the reel 14, snapthe wing feathers inwardly and upwardly in a direction opposite to thenormal disposition of the wing feathers. Manifestly, the same forces areapplied to the wing 44b by the fingers of the reels 12 and 16respectively.

Hence, when the bird 44 is reversed and caused to pass through themachine illustrated in the drawings, or through another identicalmachine hanging from its neck, the wings 44a and 44b hang toward thelegs and hooks and are pulled outwardly and downwardly by the action ofthe four reels in the same manner as illustrated in FIG. 3. As a resultof the cross-action, all of the hard to remove wing feathers, as well asthe still more difficult to remove feathers at the junctions between thewings and the body, are effectively and completely removed.

In the method further, there are movements on the part of the birds 44which add materially to the effective defeathering operation. Theyinclude a serpentine path of travel of the birds 44 while suspended,resulting also in continuous oscillation about a vertical axis throughthe bird. Viewing FIG. 4, attention is called to the fact that thesuspended bird 44, which is free to swing in all directions, tends tofollow a path of least resistance between the fingers of reels 14 and16, and of course, between the fingers of reels 1t) and 12. The leastresistance to forward advancement is adjacent the terminal ends of thefingers rather than their base ends adjacent the bars 36. Consequently,the bird 44 shifts laterally because of the short and long fingers,moving first toward the reels 10 and 14 and then toward the reels 12 and16. In fact, the appendages, i.e., the neck, or the legs and books asthe cause may be, may at times, move laterally in a direction oppositeto the lateral movement of the body. Inany event, such lateral movementautomatically, causes the entire'bird to oscillate, first in onedirection and then in the opposite direction about its vertical axisthroughout the time it travels from one end of the machine to theopposite end thereof. Such constant zigzag advancement,

'5 accompanied by a continual twisting, turning and lateral deflection,appreciably augments the defeathering results accomplished by the methodof this invention.

Again, the use of long and short fingers in each of the four reels,contributes to good feather removal when it is understood that in eachbird, there are differing types of feathers to be removed. Therelatively long, more flexible fingers operate best in the removal ofthe easier to remove covering feathers and many of the protectivefeathers of the bird. On the other hand, the shorter, less flexiblefingers of the reels, operate to pick the pin feathers and other hard toremove feathers, all without damage to the tender epidermal skin. Theaction, by virtue especially of the use of ribbed or roughened surfaceson the fingers as aforementioned, is, in addition to a slapping force, a

' frictional rubbing of the fingers against the feathers to thereby pullthe feathers from the bird in a gentle, yet aggressive manner. Each reeltherefore, imparts a large number of relatively long wiping actions onthe feathers with an equal number of alternate short rubbing actions onthe feathers.

Keeping in mind the weight or mass acting upon the bird and, therefore,the heaviness of the blow, the peripheral speeds of the reels should beas fast as possible, up to a point of avoiding damage. lnsetting of thelower reels l4 and 16 with respect to the upper reels and 12, permitsthe same peripheral speed in all four reels, notwithstanding thedifference in the lengths of the fingers as above described, andofcourse, the V-shaped arrangement more nearly conforms tothe generalshape ofthe bird itself.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is;

1. The method of removing feathers from poultry which comprises thesteps of continuously advancing a bird to be defeathered along apredetermined path and at a preselected speed of travel while holdingthe bird suspended and against descent and, while held and advanced,slapping the body of the bird without interruption with opposed,downwardly and inwardly directed, frictional rubbing forces to pull thefeathers from said body while simultaneously and uninterrupted-1yslapping each wing of the bird with outwardly and downwardly, andopposed, inwardly and upwardly directed, frictional rubbing forcesseparate from the forces applied to the body for pulling the feathersfrom the wings of the bird l 6 forces applied to the wings to pull thefeathers fromsaid other appendages.

2. The method of removing feathers from poultry which comprises thesteps of continuously advancing a bird to be defeathered along aserpentine path and at a preselected speed of travel while holding thebird suspended and against descent, oscillating the bird while held andadvanced, and, while held, advanced and oscillated, slapping the body ofthe bird without interruption with opposed, downwardly and inwardlydirected, frictional rubbing forces to pull the feathers from said bodywhile simultaneously and uninterruptedly slapping each wing of the birdwithoutwardly and, downwardly, and opposed, inwardly and upwardlydirected, frictional rubhing forces separate from the forces applied tothe body for pulling the feathers from the wings of the bird and, at thesame time, uninterruptedly slapping the neck of said bird with opposed,downwardly and inwardly directed, frictional rubbing forces separatefrom the forces applied to the body and separate from the forces appliedto the wings to pull the feathers from said neck.

3. The method of removing feathers from poultry which comprises thesteps of continuously advancing a bird to be defeathered along aserpentine'path and at a preselected speed of travel while holding thebird suspended and against descent, oscillating the bird while held andadvanced, and, while held, advanced and oscillated, slapping the body ofthe bird without interruption with opposed, downwardly and inwardlydirected, frictional rubbing forces to pullthe feathers from said bodywhile simultaneously and uninterruptedly slapping each wing of the birdwith outwardly and downwardly, and opposed, inwardly and upwardlydirected, frictional rubbing forces separate from the forces applied tothe body for pulling the feathers from the wings of the bird and, at thesame time, uninterruptedly slapping the legs and hooks of said bird withopposed, downwardly and inwardly directed, frictional rubbing forcesseparate from the forces applied to the body and separate from theforces applied to the wings to pull the feathers from said legs andbooks.

and, at the same time, uninterruptedly slapping other ap- References(Jited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,596,443 SharpL. May 13, 1952 2,603,831 Sharp July 22, 1952 2,859,471 Zebarth Nov. 11,1958 2,908,033 Zebarth Oct. 13, 1959 2,945,257 Corey et a1. July 19,1960

1. THE METHOD OF REMOVING FEATHERS FROM POULTRY WHICH COMPRISES THESTEPS OF CONTINUOUSLY ADVANCING A BIRD TO BE DEFEATHERED ALONG APREDETERMINED PATH AND AT A PRESELECTED SPEED OF TRAVEL WHILE HOLDINGTHE BIRD SUSPENDED AND AGAINST DESCENT AND, WHILE HELD AND ADVANCED,SLAPPING THE BODY OF THE BIRD WITHOUT INTERRUPTION WITH OPPOSED,DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY DIRECTED, FRICTIONAL RUBBING FORCES TO PULL THEFEATHERS FROM SAID BODY WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY AND UNINTERRUPTEDLYSLAPPING EACH WING OF THE BIRD WITH OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY, ANDOPPOSED, INWARDLY AND UPWARDLY DIRECTED, FRICTIONAL RUBBING FORCESSEPARATE FROM THE FORCES APPLIED TO THE BODY FOR PULLING THE FEATHERSFROM THE WINGS OF THE BIRD AND, AT THE SAME TIME, UNINTERRUPTEDLYSLAPPING OTHER APPENDAGES OF SAID BODY WITH OPPOSED, DOWNWARDLY ANDINWARDLY DIRECTED, FRICTIONAL RUBBING FORCES SEPARATE FROM THE FORCESAPPLIED TO THE BODY AND SEPARATE FROM THE